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Antivirus, antispyware, firewall, etc. Setup for a gamer?


VjuliusT

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AV: Avira Antivir Personal

 

Anti-spyware: Ad-Aware 2008

 

Firewall: ZoneAlarm

 

 

 

All are good free 'anti' software. :thumbup:

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"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
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I'm not a gamer, but I use Avast! antivirus and comodo firewall, with Ad-Aware also installed. This was recommended by Clare I think, and it's a great setup. I used to have norton360, and I'd say there's a difference in performance now.

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Avast, Windows Firewall. I had a problem with Comodo at the beginning of the year as it kept resetting my firewall settings (exceptions, etc.) every time it updated. It's probably fixed now. I don't have an active anti-spyware as I don't click ads or visit any dodgy websites.

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My setup has changed a lot over the years, and I'm more knowledgeable now. Firstly - Don't use a software firewall. If a virus starts on your computer, the firewall can be shut of from it. And a software firewall is not necessary as protection from external threats - at least I have heard about no exploits that way in years, and it's pretty much considered unnecessary by most operators. There are hardware firewalls that will do a great job on both ends, and can almost always tell you when you have a virus, as well as preventing them from phoning home, bu they are expensive and I wouldn't worry about it. Software firewalls are just difficult to use, and hinder all communication with the net.

 

 

 

Next, as an AV program I use Avira AV, which has kept me secure for 3 years. it is consistently rated the best free program, and better then most paid ones. Has stopped a few hundred viruses for me, and I go to some pretty bad places. :twisted: It also has had little impact on my computers performance. The biggest change is in start up speed - I lost 3/4 of a second.

 

I do actually run a few free AVs on my PC occasionally - just to ensure I have nothing bad installed. Here's my trick to leave nothing behind after their scan - I install them in a sandbox! If they ever find something, I'll look up the virus, ensure it's not a false-positive, and install a remover specifically tailored for the virus. Those are the best ways to remove a virus, as some counter actual AVs. These are small and new, and can almost always delete the virus. Another AV I'm keeping my eye on is Threatfire, because I think it will be the way all detection goes immediately, but for now it's not good enough to remove my other AV, and I don't want two on my computer.

 

 

 

Just some tips for general computing - always run [Caution: Executable File] files first in a sandbox, and see what changes it would do, or upload it to a site like virus total, to check it there.

 

Install Secunia PSI and schedule it to run biweekly, to ensure your programs are up to date.

 

Uninstall programs with ones like Revo uninstaller, so as to make sure nothing is left behind.

 

And delete your temp files and all biweekly with ccleaner. You won't regret it. Computer runs so much faster!

 

 

 

Good luck! Just remember - free can be good too!

That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem

of innocence inside of you that makes you want

to believe that there still exists a right and wrong,

that decency will somehow triumph in the end.

--Lise Hand

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I'll try it if I can't find anything else, thanks.

 

 

 

Anyone know anything about kaspersky, i've heard it's quite resource friendly?

 

 

 

Yes, Kaspersky is a very good antivirus, and so is NOD32. I have used them both over the years and have kept me safe. Avira Antivir and Avast are very good alternatives to paid antiviruses too as they are good.

 

 

 

Don't listen to those saying AVG is good though, they are outdated with their conception of antiviruses as it was good a year ago, but is in fact one of the worst nowadays.

 

 

 

A good anti-spyware is Ad-Aware. It's even better when paired with Spybot Search & Destroy.

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AVG, and Ad-aware SE.

 

 

 

That's what I use, and I'm something of a gamer. ^_^

 

 

 

Ad aware SE has been discontinued for ages, its ad aware 2008 now. if your still on SE i highly suggest you update!

 

 

 

What i use (and find is best):

 

Anti Spyware: Ad Aware 2008 in combination with Spybot S&D

 

Anti Virus: Avira AntiVir Personal. Alot of people say NOD32 is the best but its not free, avira is. I have previously used avg (until about 2 months ago) and i can say that Avira is definitely an improvement on AVG.

 

Firewall: Comodo Firewall pro. simply the BEST free firewall in my opinion. I wouldn't use zone alarm unless my life depended on it.

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I'm a heavy gamer, my set-up (which I use on all of my computers)

 

 

 

Anti-Virus: NOD32 (I love how light-weight it is, and they update the virus signature database pretty much every day)

 

Firewall: ZoneAlarm

 

 

 

And, should I ever have a small suspicious file on my hands, and I want to be uber sure before opening it, I will run it through:

http://www.virustotal.com/

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